Mental health providers in Ottawa are getting a provincial funding boost to help struggling children and teens.

The Ontario government announced a $307,200 annual grant for child and youth mental health services in Ottawa on Wednesday.

That funding will pay the salaries of two French-speaking mental health workers at the Centre Psychosocial in Vanier and allow Crossroads Children’s Centre to provide more in-home therapy to kids and their families. Crossroads has also partnered with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario for this program.

“It’s a very intensive service,” said Joanne Lowe, executive director of the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa, “so the more people you have wrapped around a family, the greater chance it’s going to be successful.”

Through this program, Crossroads is planning to serve 214 more young people in the area.

While the waiting lists for Ottawa-area agencies vary, a 2015 Children’s Mental Health Ontario report says many youth across the province wait at least a year for serious mental health counselling treatment.

According to the report, 70 per cent of adult mental health struggles stem from adolescence.

Lowe said the funding is a “huge help” for mental health care services in Ottawa.

“These are kids who wouldn’t be getting the services, the right kind of services, they need in a timely fashion,” she said.

This latest mental health funding is a slice of the $6 million province-wide investment for children and youth mental health services. It will fund the hiring of 80 new workers with the goal of helping 4,000 more kids and their families.